A18 N THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALFRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020
Dozens of people forced to work
from home because of the coro-
navirus lined up outside a library
in a Connecticut suburb on Thurs-
day, desperate for internet and a
place to charge their laptops.
A food pantry just west of Atlan-
tic City in New Jersey, which had
already been feeding people who
were unemployed because of the
pandemic, was now helping those
whose food had spoiled in refrig-
erators with no power.
In another New Jersey suburb,
a plastic surgeon who reopened
his office in June had to close
again when his electricity was
knocked out.
Two days after Tropical Storm
Isaias tore through the region,
more than 1.4 million customers
were still without power, and
some could be in the dark into
next week in what is emerging as
the worst natural disaster to hit
the area since Hurricane Sandy in
2012.
Sandy was a far bigger calamity
in terms of lives lost and the scope
of destruction. But this time the
storm arrived in the middle of a
pandemic, bringing a new kind of
misery to people who already felt
as if they were just barely coping.
New York City took less of a hit
than the surrounding suburbs.
Struggling businesses now
faced costly repairs from storm
damage. Residents who had
sought refuge from the virus at
home were not sure when phone
service or air conditioning would
return, and some risked tempo-
rarily moving in with others who
still had power or internet. Food,
gas and generators grew scarce
as many prepared for extended
hardship.
“It’s just one more thing,” said
Dr. Barry Citron, the plastic sur-
geon. Dr. Citron had worked in
April at a field hospital in the
Meadowlands sports complex
that was set up to treat patients
during the height of the pandemic
in New Jersey.
“This year is not good,” he said.
“A storm shutting down the office
is not that hard to weather, but it’s
just that it’s this year. We want it to
be over.”
The length of the power losses
was likely to fall short of those that
were caused by the hurricane,
which left some places without
power for weeks. Still, utility com-
panies were struggling to get
through a tangled of toppled trees
in a region where much of the
power is provided by overhead
lines.
In Connecticut, which appeared
to be more severely affected than
New York or New Jersey, the main
electric supplier, Eversource, said
it could take several days to re-
store power to more than 500,
of its 1.2 million electric
customers. Officials said that they
were assessing the damage and
that some neighborhoods were
still impassable.
About 150,000 Con Edison
customers in New York City and
Westchester County were still
without power, and the work to re-
store it to all of them could last into
Monday, said Timothy P. Cawley,
the utility’s president.
That number included nearly
60,000 New York City residents,
most of them in Queens.
In New Jersey, Public Service
Electric and Gas said on Thursday
it was working to restore power
for about 140,000 customers, but
said some restorations might not
be complete until Monday.
“The restoration is moving
safely and quickly,” said Lauren
Ugorji, a spokeswoman for the
utility. “I know it doesn’t feel like it
for most people who are still out.
For us, bringing back hundreds ofthousands of people in one or two
days is really a lot of intense dedi-
cated work.”
The pace of restoration has
prompted an angry response from
public officials. Both Gov. Andrew
M. Cuomo of New York and the top
regulator in Connecticut have said
they will investigate utilities’
preparation for the storm.
“We were disappointed that
they didn’t have more guys on the
ground ready to go,” Gov. Ned La-
mont of Connecticut said. “We
have some catching up to do.
We’re going to hold their feet to
the fire until we’re caught up.”
Isaias made landfall in North
Carolina and left a path of destruc-
tion as it raced up the East Coast
on Tuesday. Two people were
killed when a tornado struck a
neighborhood in northeast North
Carolina. Falling trees killed a
woman in Maryland and a man in
Briarwood, Queens, before the
fast-moving storm sped off into
Canada on Wednesday.
In New Jersey, a 68-year-old
man was killed on Wednesday
when he came into contact with
low-hanging wires as he cleared
storm debris, the authorities said.
On Thursday, scenes of frustra-
tion and pain continued to unfoldacross the region.
In Mount Vernon, N.Y.,
Matthew Jones, 50, who lost his
job managing a retail store in
March because of the pandemic,
said the internet disruption from
Isaias was making it difficult for
him to look for new work.
“My big thing now that we have
Covid-19 and with me being out of
a job is that the internet is my only
chance of getting another job,” he
said.
Femi Guri, 33, took his two
young children to his parents’
house in Queens, which made ev-
eryone nervous because of the
risk of spreading the virus.
His father ended up giving him
a generator and sending him
away.
“It’s a crazy year,” Mr. Guri said.
With power still out in many
places in New Jersey — and the
contents of many refrigerators ru-
ined — the demand at a food
pantry in Egg Harbor Township in
South Jersey was soaring, said
Kimberly Arroyo of the Communi-
ty Food Bank of New Jersey.
“We are seeing families come to
our pantry that have lost a lot of
food,” said Ms. Arroyo. “Eggs,
milk, meat: Those things are ex-
pensive to replace.”In North Cape May, N.J., the Ha-
ven House at St. John of God, a
low-income, senior housing site,
was without power for more than
30 hours, leaving residents with
rotting perishables and no easy
way to cook.
“They all live off Social Security.
They just got their checks,” saidAlisa Erdman, social service co-
ordinator for Haven House. “They
all went shopping on Monday, and
all their food is gone.”
Officials scrambled to provide
supplemental food, handing out
pizza for lunch and peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches for dinner on
Wednesday. Power was restored
early Wednesday evening.
But with residents’ refrigera-
tors largely empty, the Communi-
ty Food Bank of New Jersey was
sending over easy-to-prepare
meal kits on Thursday afternoon,Ms. Erdman said.
Four months into the pandemic,
many residents had already been
struggling with isolation and fear.
“When this happened, we just
said: Let’s get to work and just
keep moving forward and not
worry about what else can hap-
pen,” Ms. Erdman said.
In Monroe, Conn., a town about
17 miles west of New Haven, resi-
dents flocked on Thursday to the
Edith Wheeler Memorial Library,
which was offering free outdoor
wireless internet access and
power.
The parking lot was full by 10
a.m. as more than 100 people —
many of them already working
from home and now lacking inter-
net access — sat in their cars or at
tables set up around the building.
Some charged their laptops with
extension cords stretched out
from the library’s exterior outlets.
Matthew Rentz, a marketing
manager at New York Life Insur-
ance Company, said he arrived at
the library around 9:30 a.m.
Thursday.
He said that he had been wait-
ing for power to be restored to a
relative’s home when he found out
about the library.
“I don’t really want to go into
people’s homes right now,” he
said.
The staff at the Torrington Li-
brary in Connecticut was scram-
bling to figure out how to let peo-
ple use its power and internet
service while making sure they
stayed socially distanced, said
Jessica Gueniat, the library’s di-
rector.
It had been a place of refuge
during Sandy and during other
storms. But the staff had to limit
capacity, normally around 200
people, to about 25 or 30 people on
the main floor. They spaced out ta-
bles so they were more than six
feet apart and wiped down sur-
faces.
“It’s trying to explain to people:
We understand that there’s a
need, we understand that you
need us,” she said. “Let’s do it re-
sponsibly. Let’s do it safely.”
In Rockland County, Michael
Gach, 39, said he had been without
power since Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. Gach, his wife and his daugh-
ter moved into a guest room in his
grandmother’s house, which still
has access to power.
But by staying with his grand-
parents, Mr. Gach now has a new
worry. His wife works as a social
worker at a school and interacts
with other people.
“It definitely gives you pause
when you think about what she
could possibly be exposed to and
what she’s bringing home to eld-
erly people,” he said.Power Still Out, Many in New York Region Endure a New Level of Misery
Cleaning up in Marmora, N.J., on Thursday, two days after a tropical storm tore through an area already reeling from the pandemic.KRISTON JAE BETHEL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESBy MIHIR ZAVERI
and TRACEY TULLYKevin Armstrong, Peter Blair, Ari-
elle Dollinger, Juliana Kim, Patrick
McGeehan, Nate Schweber and
Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.
During an outbreak,
possibly the worst
storm since Sandy.
Mr. LaPierre is accused of raid-
ing N.R.A. funds to bankroll an ex-
travagant lifestyle, even though
he was already paid millions in di-
rect compensation by the organi-
zation.
Over six and a half years, the
suit said, a personal travel con-
sultant for Mr. LaPierre was paid
$13.5 million, largely on no-bid
contracts. Private flights were
chartered for Mr. LaPierre’s wife
and his niece. He took frequent
trips to the Bahamas on the
N.R.A.’s dime, often decamping to
a 108-foot yacht called “Illusions”
that was owned by an N.R.A. con-
tractor and included a chef and
four staterooms. He lavished gifts
from Neiman Marcus and
Bergdorf Goodman on his inner
circle, and once put his niece up at
a Four Seasons hotel for eight
nights at a cost of more than
$12,000, according to the com-
plaint.
The lawsuit accuses the N.R.A.
and the executives of “violating
numerous state and federal laws”
by enriching themselves, as well
as their friends, families and al-
lies, and taking improper actions
that cost the organization $64 mil-
lion over three years. Ms. James is
also seeking to oust Mr. LaPierre
and Mr. Frazer, and to bar all four
men from serving on nonprofit
boards in New York again.
The lawsuit, which was filed in
State Supreme Court in Manhat-
tan, is a civil action, and it outlined
a number of alleged tax violations.
Ms. James said during a news
conference that she was referring
the matter to the Internal Reve-
nue Service in addition to taking
her own action, and did not rule
out making a future criminal re-
ferral.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,”
she said. “If we uncover any crimi-
nal activity, we will refer it to the
Manhattan district attorney. At
this point in time we’re moving
forward, again, with civil enforce-
ment.”
In a statement, Mr. LaPierre
said: “This is an unconstitutional,
premeditated attack aiming to dis-
mantle and destroy the N.R.A. —
the fiercest defender of America’s
freedom at the ballot box for dec-
ades. We’re ready for the fight.
Bring it on.”
President Trump, in comments
Thursday, said, “That’s a very ter-
rible thing that just happened,”
adding that “the N.R.A. should
move to Texas and lead a very
good and beautiful life.”
The N.R.A., however, cannot
move its assets to another state
amid the investigation, and even if
it is dissolved, it would have to
start over largely from scratch.
N.R.A. officials have denounced
Ms. James, a Democrat, since she
referred to the group as a “terror-
ist organization” during her 2018
campaign and vowed to investi-
gate it. As they have often done
when under attack in the past, the
N.R.A. officials are likely to step
up their fund-raising efforts by
stoking anger about the investiga-
tion among their more than five
million members.
“You could have set your watch
by it: The investigation was going
to reach its crescendo as we move
into the 2020 election cycle,” the
N.R.A.’s president, Carolyn Mead-
ows, said in a statement.
She also called the inquiry “a
power grab by a political oppor-
tunist” and said “we not only will
not shrink from this fight — we
will confront it and prevail.”
The attorney general’s office
previously presided over the dis-
solution of President Trump’s
scandal-marred charitable foun-
dation, but the N.R.A. is a far
larger organization that is ex-
pected to put up a more prolonged
fight.
The N.R.A. has long wielded im-
mense power in the nation’s poli-
tics. But amid its deepening trou-
bles, it has taken an unusually low
profile during this election season,
though it said Thursday that it
would spend tens of millions of
dollars this year in battleground
states.
Its finances have been strained
by internal strife costing tens of
millions of dollars in legal fees, in-
cluding a messy divorce from Ack-
erman McQueen, the advertising
and strategy firm that was its
most important contractor for
decades.The organization’s finances
have also been badly damaged by
the pandemic, which forced it to
cancel its annual convention and a
number of fund-raising events.
And it has faced a revolt from
some donors, who disagree with
Ms. James’s politics but would
also like to oust Mr. LaPierre and
his team.
Ms. James’s lawsuit is the cul-
mination of an inquiry that began
in February 2019 and played out
amid revelations in the news me-
dia regarding the organization’s
spending and governance prac-
tices.
Among the numerous alleged
violations laid out by Ms. James’s
office, some were related to false
reporting of annual filings both to
the state and the I.R.S. Her office
also cited “improper expense doc-
umentation, improper wage re-
porting, improper income tax
withholding” and failing to make
required excise tax reporting and
payment, among other issues.
Mr. LaPierre is also said to have
secured a post-employment con-
tract without board approval
worth more than $17 million.
There were allegations of in-
competence as well. Mr. LaPierre
hired a convicted embezzler as a
personal assistant who, according
to the complaint, went on to be re-peatedly accused of using N.R.A.
funds for her own expenses. Mr.
Frazer, the general counsel, was
described as overmatched by his
job; he had only 18 months in pri-
vate practice, and no corporate le-
gal experience. Mr. Frazer did not
comment.
Mr. Phillips, the former treas-
urer and chief financial officer,
presided for years with Mr.
LaPierre over the N.R.A.’s gov-
ernance practices. He failed to dis-
close a personal relationship he
had with the chief executive of a
company paid $1.4 million by the
N.R.A., and after his retirement
was paid $30,000 a month for con-
sulting work he did not perform,
according to the complaint.
His lawyer, Mark Werbner, dis-
puted the last point, saying Mr.
Phillips “definitely did work as
part of the consulting agreement,”
but offered few specifics. Mr.Werbner added that Mr. Phillips
“acted in good faith and is very
surprised these transactions are
being characterized differently.”
Like Mr. LaPierre, he made use
of a contractor’s luxury yacht,
though with a slightly different
name — it was called “Grand Illu-
sion.”
The lawsuit also claims that tes-
timony by the chairman of the
N.R.A.’s audit committee indi-
cated that he had little awareness
of its governance role and no
knowledge of state law concern-
ing such committees and was un-
familiar with the committee’s own
charter, which states that it over-
sees the organization’s financial
integrity.
N.R.A. officials have conducted
their own internal audit and de-
fended many of their practices,
though several top officials have
been forced out amid an internaldispute over how it is run, includ-
ing Oliver North, its former presi-
dent, and Christopher Cox, the
former top lobbyist. Mr. North, a
right-wing pundit, is referred to in
the complaint as “Dissident No. 1,”
and is said to be cooperating with
the inquiry.
A number of accusations were
leveled at Mr. Powell, a former top
aide to Mr. LaPierre who was dis-
missed for allegedly misappropri-
ating N.R.A. funds. The complaint
says that a consulting firm called
McKenna was hired by the N.R.A.
to oversee “Project Ben-Hur,”
which aimed to restructure the or-
ganization and its banking rela-
tionships. The firm paid Mr. Pow-
ell’s wife $30,000 a month as an in-
dependent contractor, through a
newly formed company called
SPECTRE, a conflict that Mr.
Powell took steps to hide, accord-
ing to the complaint.
In a statement, Mr. Powell’s
lawyer said his client “was fired
by Wayne LaPierre and the
N.R.A.’s lawyers for his efforts to
correct much of the misconduct
cited in the attorney general’s
complaint,” adding that “allega-
tions directed at him in this law-
suit will be shown to be the result
of false accusations made by
Wayne LaPierre and others.”
Legal experts said that while
Ms. James’s complaint was seri-
ous and exposed vast problems,
dissolving the organization would
face challenges in court.
Sean Delany, a former head of
the charities bureau in the office of
the attorney general — the same
division now handling the case —
said, “I think the facts are very
strong, but I think the remedy of
dissolution is a stretch, because
the A.G. would have to prove that
the organization is so rife with
fraud that there isn’t anything suf-
ficiently substantial in the organi-
zation’s charitable programs to
make it worth saving.”
But David Samuels, a former
deputy chief of the same bureau,
said, “It appears that they have a
strong case under New York law
for dissolving the N.R.A.” New
York’s law on conflicts of interest
and related party transactions
was tightened in 2013, he noted.
“The current lawsuit cites, in
part, violations of these provi-
sions designed to prevent misuse
of charitable assets,” Mr. Samuels
said.Citing Financial Misdeeds,
New York Sues the N.R.A.
And Seeks to Dissolve It
From Page ALetitia James, the New York at-
torney general, on Thursday
sued the National Rifle Associ-
ation and four current or for-
mer leaders, including the chief
executive, Wayne LaPierre.JUSTIN LANE/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCKERIK S LESSER/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCKThe gun-rights group
is pursued by the state
where it was founded.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and
John Ismay contributed reporting.